World War II Causes/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby Tim and Moby are playing a war-themed board game. Moby moves his playing piece from North America to Greenland. MOBY: Beep. TIM: You're attacking me in Greenland? But we had a deal. MOBY: Beep. Moby holds up one hand. His fingers are crossed. TIM: That's the last time I trust you. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, what caused World War II? From, Fred. Well, it's a pretty complicated story. And it begins at the end of World War I. In 1918, Germany was defeated by the Allied Powers: Great Britain, France, Italy, and the United States. An animated map highlights the countries involved as Tim names them. TIM: According to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had to take full responsibility for starting the war and pay $33 billion to the winners. An image shows the Treaty of Versailles. TIM: These funds were called reparations. World War I took a heavy toll on the German economy, and the reparation payments were way more than it could handle. To pay the debt, Germany printed more money. An animation shows a large printing press creating German currency. TIM: But that caused inflation to spiral out of control and made German money worthless. The inflation crisis was eventually resolved, but Germany still faced lots of other problems. Since unemployment was high and the new democratic government didn't have broad support from the people, there was frequent civil unrest. An animation shows a large crowd of German protestors, both military and civilian. TIM: And then the Great Depression began in 1929. Although it started in the U.S., it caused economic hardship around the world. An animation with a downward-moving line graph represents the world economy during the Great Depression. TIM: In these tough times, the German people were looking for leaders to restore order and prosperity. So they turned to Adolf Hitler. He was the leader of the Nazi Party, a fascist political movement. An image shows Adolf Hitler giving the one-armed Nazi salute. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, fascism is sort of hard to describe. Basically, it's a form of government where power is concentrated in a single dictator. It's centered around an extreme form of patriotism, or love for one's country, and celebrates military strength and brute force. An image shows two German soldiers standing under large Nazi flags. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Sure. Patriotism is usually a good thing, and there's nothing wrong with having a strong military, either. But fascism takes away citizens' individual freedoms. An image shows two soldiers dragging away a protestor. TIM: It also holds that strong countries have the right to invade and conquer weak ones. An animation shows German tanks rolling through an unarmed, rural area. TIM: Anyway, when Hitler took power, he immediately started building up his army and manufacturing tanks and warplanes. An animation shows tanks rolling down an assembly line. TIM: This kick-started the economy and made him popular among the German people. An image shows Hitler shaking hands with members of an adoring crowd. TIM: It also violated the Treaty of Versailles, which forbade Germany from building a strong army. But the leaders of Britain and France let Hitler do it anyway. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, World War I wasn't only tough on Germany. The British and French lost 2 million soldiers in the war and spent the equivalent of $60 billion on it. They wanted to avoid another war at all costs. An animation shows an enormous military cemetery. TIM: And they assumed that Hitler felt the same way and that he wouldn't start a war as long as they didn't provoke him. This policy of letting Hitler do what he wanted was called appeasement. Hitler soon allied himself with Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator of Italy. And later, the two of them made a pact with Imperial Japan, whose government was controlled by military generals. Images show Hitler, Mussolini, and a group of Japanese generals. TIM: Together, they formed what became known as the Axis Powers. During the 1930s, all three of these countries took over other nations. Japan took over parts of China, Italy invaded Ethiopia, and Germany annexed Austria. Animated maps show the invasions and conquests that Tim describes. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yep. The international community let them get away with it. So Hitler started pushing to acquire even more territory. In 1938, the leaders of Britain and France met with Hitler and agreed to let him take over part of Czechoslovakia. Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, claimed this act would bring "peace for our time". An animation shows Hitler and Chamberlain shaking hands. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah. In retrospect, he was wrong. But at the time, the agreement had wide popular support. Most people felt that Austria and Czechoslovakia weren't worth fighting a big war over. And some believed that Germany was rightfully reclaiming land it lost during World War I. An image shows Chamberlain holding up a paper and speaking into microphones. TIM: However, when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Great Britain and France finally declared war. That was the beginning of World War II in Europe. An image shows a paperboy selling newspapers on September 1, 1939. The paper's headline reads: Germans Invade and Bomb Poland, Britain Mobilizes, France Declares State of Siege. TIM: The United States shipped supplies and weapons to France and England, but it wouldn't declare war or send troops. An animation shows American supplies being loaded onto warships for transportation to Europe. TIM: Meanwhile, the U.S. tried to stop Japanese expansion with a trade embargo. MOBY: Beep. TIM: That just means the United States ended all trade with Japan. Japan's reply came on December 7, 1941, when Japanese warplanes attacked American ships at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. An animation shows Japanese planes bombing American naval ships in Pearl Harbor. A map of Hawaii appears in the corner. TIM: The U.S. declared war on Japan the very next day. A few days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. And that was the beginning of World War II for America. By the way, I'm attacking your armies in Madagascar. Moby looks down at the game board and frowns. MOBY: Beep. With one arm, Moby scoops all of the game pieces off of the board. TIM: You really need to control your temper. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts